Hulu promos discounted $5.99 entry tier to its streaming library

There’s been some warmth in the “Netflix and Chill” world. Most of it was in the form of angst. Those who are subscribed to the standard plan will have to pay $1 more per month starting in November while the premium plan would cost $2 more a month.

The company best known for leading the streaming video content game in the United States is using the price hike to support a $7 billion content creation budget for next year. And just like for its two previous price hikes, people are expected to drop off from the service.

It just so happens, VARIETY reports, that Hulu has decided to kick off a short-term promotion of offering its entry-level streaming plan (with commercials inserted into the viewing experience) at $2 off per month for new customers’ first year — $5.99 monthly. The offer is valid through January 9, 2018. The no-commercials plan remains at $11.99 per month and other tiers with Live TV included remain at their normal prices.

The promotion, it is reported, was only coincidentally rolled out before the Netflix move on September 21.

Hulu’s biggest selling point is that it has the largest bay of network programming — it helps that it is owned by Disney (owner of ABC), Comcast (owner of NBC) and 21st Century Fox (owner of Fox) — though it has dabbled with original programming to middling results.

Jules Wang is News Editor for Pocketnow and one of the hosts of the Pocketnow Weekly Podcast. He came onto the team in 2014 as an intern editing and producing videos and the podcast while he was studying journalism at Emerson College. He graduated the year after and entered into his current position at Pocketnow, full-time.